Guidance Restructuring

Updates will be posted on this page as and when further information becomes available.

22/4/16

The new house names and colours were revealed today at a ceremony to mark the end of the old houses. The results of the Guidance restructuring are:

Berstane and Newark will become FARAInganess and Waulkmill will become EYNHALLOWDingieshowe and Scapa will become COPINSAY

The ceremony was attended by all pupils, many wearing the colours of their old house, making for a very colourful gathering. The posters made up of squares decorated by every pupil were paraded from the Art Department down the main stairs to the ground floor. They were then laid down to symbolise the end of the old houses. The House Captains all gave speeches recognising the achievements of their house and thanking their Guidance teachers.

Dr Hall then began the process of revealing the new names and colours. Using the actual sorting hat brought to Orkney by J K Rowling, slips and balls were drawn and the names emerged on screen. The names were as voted for by KGS pupils and staff and the colours come from the Orkney flag.

18/4/16

For the celebration of the old KGS houses on April 22nd, we are going to produce large posters in the house colours. Each pupil will be given a 10cm square piece of paper in their house colour. They can then personalise this - by writing a message, using magazine cuttings, using textured fibre etc. This way every pupil will contribute to the posters, and they can be as creative as they want to. The more variety in the squares, the better.

Once pupils have completed the squares, they will be arranged and stuck on a large piece of paper with darker shades towards the top and lighter shades towards the bottom - to represent a sunset.

Then, at our celebration on Friday 22nd, the finished posters will be brought in a procession down from the Art Department, round the mezzanine, and down to the bottom of the stairs, where they will be ceremonially laid down - to mark the end of our old houses.

Photos: Della Laurenson

9/3/16

The final ballot for the new house names will take place during tutor time on Friday of this week. The following names will appear on the ballot paper: Copinsay, Damsay, Eynhallow, Fara, Hunda, Rysa, and Swona. We're going to use a single transferable vote system.

2/3/16

The votes from the ballot on Friday 26 February have been counted, and the theme going forward for the new KGS House names will be Uninhabited Isles.

A total of 1249 votes were counted. Of these, 121 were for Orkney Wildlife, 562 were for Norse names, and 566 were for Uninhabited Isles.

Pupils and staff will carry out the final vote for the names on Friday 11 March.

Kirkwall Grammar School - Proposed new house names

The categories that you voted to take forward are:

Norse names/Norse Gods

Uninhabited Isles

Orkney Wildlife

We need to choose which of these we like best. We have put together a few suggestions for each of the categories, to give a flavour of what the final names could sound like, and to help you to choose which category you want to vote for.

Category One - Norse Names/Norse Gods

We can think about the names of gods such as Astrid, Thor, Loki, etc. These names have positive associations with Marvel comics and movies, and they link to Orkney’s Nordic dimension. One possible problem might be that these names are gender specific, so not so good if you are a girl and you are in a house with a boy’s name, or vice versa.

In the past, KGS had houses named Erlend, Sweyn and Einar. Many people like the idea of a return to some of the traditional Norse house names. In the interests of gender balance, we might like to consider Viking girls' names too - like Ingrid, Asleif, Gunnhild or Helga. Ingi can be a man's or a woman's names.We could also consider some words from the Orkney Norn (Orkney’s Viking language): Skyran (glittering, very bright), Tullimentan (scintillating or shining), Watherblinks (distant lightning flashes). These have the advantage of being a bit like the names of the Harry Potter houses – they don’t necessarily have direct meanings, but they are loaded with powerful, positive connotations.

Category Two - Uninhabited Isles/Skerries

Some of these names are really beautiful, with great sound qualities: Eynhallow, The Galt, Swona. Eynhallow is the famous, uninhabited holy island close to Rousay – it’s a very beautiful place with lots of history. Pupils and parents from the outer North Isles might like ‘The Galt’ – this is a skerry off the north of Shapinsay. (Folk from Stronsay, Sanday, Eday and Westray are said to come fae North o the Galt, and pass the skerry on their way to KGS.) Swona (or, say, Rysa or Fara) reflects the South Isles catchment area of KGS. These names have the advantage of being gender-neutral.

Category Three - Orkney Wildlife

We could go for Laverock, Eyebright and Whitemaa. Laverock is the Orkney name for the Skylark; Eyebright is a flowering plant that is common in Orkney; Whitemaa is the Orkney name for the Herring Gull. So, we have a songbird, a flowering plant and a seagull - each with its own positive associations. (These three species could be said to represent the elements of air, earth, and water.) Alternatively, we could use three bird names, like Corncrake, Skylark, Puffin, or three names of plants common in Orkney - Butterwort, Sundew, Thyme.

RationaleKGS Guidance Department is continuing its move towards permanent full-time Guidance teachers. This is in keeping with the national trend, and we believe it provides a more effective model. A full-time Guidance teacher’s time will be more flexible, enabling them to more readily deal with any emergency issues. They will also be able to focus solely on their caseload and Guidance matters. Another reason for making this change is that one Guidance teacher heading two houses has led to a blurring of house identity. The change in structure will also give us an opportunity to look at how we celebrate success.

Changes in a nutshellThe number of houses will change from six to three, and the houses will have new names. In the long term, it is intended that each house will be managed by one Guidance teacher. The Guidance Manager will be a support to all Guidance teachers, and will also be available for contact from parents of pupils in any of the houses.

How will these changes affect your child?Each pupil at KGS will continue to have the same access to a Guidance teacher as they do at the moment. Their registration group and tutor will remain as it is at the moment.

Will there be any changes in how to contact the Guidance teacher?No, this will remain as present - phone 01856 872102.

Will Depute Head Teachers be assigned to specific houses?No, they will be responsible for specific year groups. It was decided that this “tartan” system would result in a better overview and support, with the Senior Management Team retaining whole year responsibilities rather than being attached to a particular house.

What is the role of the Guidance Manager?Although the Guidance Manager does not have a specific caseload of pupils, they are available to support pupils across all of the houses. This may involve chairing reviews, being a contact for parents, providing flexibility for the other Guidance teachers to manage their caseload (for example by covering classes), attending meetings or supporting individuals. The Guidance Manager’s role also involves the supervision of the PSE programme, as well as liaising with outside agencies and Senior Management.

The next steps in choosing the new names for the housesBetween now and the Easter holidays, pupils, staff, parents and the wider community will be involved in choosing the names for the three new houses. This process has begun with pupils and staff choosing the following three themes:

Parents and the community will be able to vote for their favourite theme from these three. Paper voting will be open from 17th February and online voting (via the KGS website) from the 18th February. Ballot forms for paper voting will be available from the office. A discussion paper will be put up on the KGS website giving some example names for each of the categories. (The names in the discussion paper won’t necessarily be the final names, but are there to give people an idea of the kind of things we might be considering.) Once the theme is selected, pupils will be able to suggest names of their own, and, finally, pupils will vote in school for their favourite names from a list.

In May, we will be hosting events to say goodbye to the previous houses.

Opportunity to commentYou can comment on any of the above by submitting a comment using the form below, or contacting Alma Balfour or Simon Hall (the member of the Senior Management Team responsible for implementing the change). In addition, at all Parents' Evenings there will be a designated table with information, and the opportunity to discuss this and put questions to senior managers or the Guidance Manager.

9/12/15

Following a whole school staff consultation looking at various models, and a follow-up meeting by a new Guidance working group, it has been agreed to adopt a three house structure in KGS from June 2016.

The present six houses will be replaced by three new houses. Houses will continue to be made up of pupils from S1 to S6. Members of the SMT will retain year head responsibilities across the school rather than being attached to a particular house.This decision has been made to take account of changing staffing in the Guidance Department and the introduction of full-time Guidance teachers, and to eliminate some anomalies in the present system.The Guidance working group is discussing ways to further work with staff and to get parents and pupils involved in the restructure as much as possible. A letter with further information will go out to parents at the end of January.The first thing will be to decide on new names for the houses. We are looking at exciting ways to launch the new system and also how to celebrate the successes of the present system over the years.